Refeeding after 35 day fast.
Now for the reffeding process I did. Which was rushed and unsupervised ( again, not recommended, always get professional medical supervision for anything that has to do with fasting or reffeding.)
Anyway, I have a real hard time with patients and self-control so since I wanted to get back into a gym routine quick, I rushed the refeeding process. The main concern from what research and info on YouTube I have gathered. Seems to point to avoiding insulin spikes and having enough electrolytes and vitamins mainly b1 and phosphate. As well as flushing ketones from the system before utilizing carbs.
(Again this is not professional statements so do your own research and consult a medical professional who is knowledgeable about fasting or eating disorders due to refeeding syndrome also effecting people with eating disorders when they get treatment. )
It is about 5 days after my fast and I am back to eating a little over 1500 kcals, very little carbs (under 50g if that) the first day I ate only bone broth and some olives. The next day I ate that again and some other very low-cal food like pickles. I was also drinking electrolyte mixed with lemon or lime water and took some betaine hydrochloride thinking all this was necessary to help stomach acid. That created too much stomach acid and I had way too much water which all let to water stool so that was very bad and the electrolytes I thought I needed were to much which led to some problem. So, I was very unbalanced in a way that I over anticipated and overcompensated for a perceived issue that I later found out was only a big issue if I were to of eating a normal amount of carbs when I started eating. I was also using tropical papaya digestive enzymes and on 3rd day I introduced garden of life organic digest + chewable enzymes, now brand super enyzmes and enzymedica Dairyassist, which is a lactase. That last one was specifically because I wanted to eat blue cheese and feta cheese in a mix I made or as is. The blue cheese, however, probably irritated my gut due to the bacteria so I went and got some probiotics. then I over did it with those. The kind and amount of probiotics is ((Bio-K +) 50 billion bacteria)) which is a fermented soy probiotic supplement and the brand ((inner-eco, you gut this.) 100 billion)) I had 3 servings of first and one of second the first day I used it which was way to much and that night after I had consumed probably around 1200 cals, mostly olives. I had the same gut issues. I recommend using probiotics maybe once every 4 days for 2 or 3 weeks then once a week or less. I didn’t eat until after 4pm for the first 4 days after breaking fast. On 3rd day I also started using psyllium husk powder because I looked up how to help the watery stool issue and that was recommended. The dose I used was a .21 oz pack which even if it is too much that’s enough to break into 3 uses. You need to drink a good amount of water to or it can make you constipated, then you’ll have the opposite issue. So, the whole thing is about finding the right balance of things that’s right for you and your situation and mental and physical needs and then growing in a grounded way (grounded in reality) as your needs grow. There will still be some insomnia especially when your still limiting carbs so swimming a small amount helped me, but you should add some carbs under 30 a day after day 2 which will help get ketones out because you don’t want to many ketones and glucose, I’m pretty sure that’s bad. You can limit the electrolytes until you go to gym and limit using lemon or lime water especially if you’re using betaine hydrochloride. This together will cause too much stomach acid and I recommend looking into bile due to the liver not producing that much for a few weeks, so I assume it takes a few days to wake up in a sense. However, I didn’t but I thought that might have helped after the fact. Also standing or kneeling in an upright position helps with the flow of things and digestion so that should be down as much as possible and walking after small meals.
I am at day 5 refeeding after I have found a good balance of food intake digestive enzymes, electrolytes and stomach acid support. And today I went to gym this morning after I eat this small 350 cal steak cheese wrap (the wrap is made frome cheese). The steak was chopped then put in blender then I made the wrap with the pureed steak. I’m not going to ever use protein powder ( OMG yuk and so bad and mostly un-digestible ) steak or other meat puree is a much better way to go and very easily digested. You can eat it like a soup or drink like a shake with some bone broth. This is better for a number of reasons especially since the purée process is pretty much half the digestion process that happens in stomach anyway. Anyway, I had that and a hard-boiled egg. 32 oz water electrolytes mix and took a liquid multi-vitamin and liquid phosphate and liquid ashwagandha root. Then the digestive enzymes and betaine hydrochloride. Then went to gym for about 1.5 hours then came home and had two hard boiled eggs with franks red hot and another small wrap. And a small ice coffee with did have caramel creamer in it and I put some cinnamon in it. also had some milk before coffee, so took more enzymes especially the lactase one. And I feel great so no refeeding issues anymore if I stick to this amount of food. Probably a little healthier snacking later with the chewable digestive enzymes and lemon or lime water if I feel I need it. probably going to gym later for light workout and swim but no need to eat another wrap maybe some cheese or small snack or hard-boiled egg or banana. No psyllium powder needed today its potent stuff and I haven’t had a BM yet today so either my body is being very effective at absorbing all the energy or I used to much yesterday, probably a little of both, also that was why I had coffee but that didn’t help, and I wasn’t going to drink too much I had another a few hours later but it didn’t affect it. Also, the probiotics should be used sparingly I think maybe once every few days. For a week or two then probably only once a month. Unless you end up needing antibiotics. I am also keeping some tracking of my food intake and writing more in a journal about my day and refeeding progress which is a way to keep myself accountable. Being accountable to myself for self-control and self-regulation purposes is very important and is a subject for another blog.
It is very easy to overeat and snap back to old bad eating habits. As well as other old bad habits, new routines and habits should be formed as soon as refeeding starts. Even if it starts very small, like reading something for 10 minutes instead of turning TV on. then start being more aware of how things are affecting you. I’m not saying don’t enjoy your life by trying to be too healthy, just gain and maintain some balanced awareness so you can enjoy your life. most people unfortunately do start to gain weight back after fasting and this can be avoided with self-control and awareness and new habits and routines. These can all start small and grow in a grounded way. The point is you need to stay on top of your urges to satisfy your physiological chemical reward seeking behavior. You control your body, do not let your body control you.
